Anyim will provide leadership Nigeria needs — Buhari

A former Presidential aspirant, has asserted that the delivery and roles of a former Senate President and current Presidential aspirant, Anyim Pius Anyim, in national assignments have distinguish him (Anyim) out as one with the best exposure and experience to provide the desired leadership to Nigeria.

Ahmed Buhari, a former presidential aspirant under the auspices of Sustainable National Party of Nigeria, during the 2019 general election, also dismissed claims that South East may not produce qualified person to occupy the office of Nigeria’s president come 2023.

Speaking on Arise Television, Monday morning, February 14, Ahmed Buhari said that every section of the country has qualified individuals capable of piloting the affairs of the country creditably, if given the opportunity.

Making a case for Southern Presidency come 2023, Buhari said that it would only be just and fair that the next president should be zoned to the South.

According to him, in 2015, the North cried loudly that power should shift to the North after Goodluck Jonathan, saying it was the same argument in 2015 that produced President Mohammed Buhari, a Northerner, to fill the slot of the North after Jonathan from the South South.

He wondered why the same people who clamoured for power shift then to the North were now opposing the same power shift to the South.

Buhari, however, emphasized that for the sake of equity and fairness, the presidential slot, once ceded to the South, should further be micro-zoned to South East “because South East is the only zone in the entire South that has not produced the president of Nigeria since the advent of democracy in 1999,” he said.

He noted that there were arrays of eminently qualified persons from the South East who have indicated interest in the job, including Orji Kalu, Rochas Okorocha and Anyim Pius Anyim,

Buhari said that the credentials of all of the aspirants should be placed on the table for proper scrutiny.

“But among all of them that have indicated interest in the presidency from South East,” Buhari says, “if given opportunity to choose, that Anyim stands out.”

He said that “Anyim’s performance in the Senate as its President when the National Assembly was in turmoil, his stabilizing roles at that point, marked him out as one who could be entrusted with leadership and he will be sure to deliver.”

Buhari recalled that Anyim’s role in the office of Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) where he was the head of all ministries and agencies; and how he managed a rancor-free civil service without being a career civil servant, was another factor anyone should not overlook in choosing a candidate for next presidential election.

Buhari also noted that Anyim’s disposition on restructuring portrays as “a leader who is ready to listen and carry everyone along.”

He, therefore, maintained that “Anyim”s roles so far at the national level have distinguished him as one with the best exposure and experience to provide the desired leadership to Nigeria.”

“Anyim’s age, at 60,” Buhari observed, “is another factor that plays in his favour. Anyim’s age places him in the middle of the pack, between the youth and the aged.”

Buhari pointed out that the attacks against the Igbos presidency was mainly coming from those who were oblivious of the roles the Igbos were playing in the unity of Nigeria, saying that a lot of Igbos have made Nigerians proud both within and outside the country.

Buhari observed that Anyim’s reactions to some of those criticisms have been very reassuring, emphasising that his position remains “how do we move forward.”

According to him, “This is a man whose mindset is not just on looking at challenges but more concerned about finding the solutions,” insisting that only someone with such positive dispositions could bring the desired leadership which was badly needed now in Nigeria now.